The Righteous Choose Their Friends Carefully

One more look at self-discipline.  This time, when it comes to self-discipline let us look at what you do.  This is where we apply it to our every-day-walkin’-around-kind-of-life. Let us look at the importance of why the righteous choose their friends carefully.

Proverbs 12:26

The righteous choose their friends carefully,
    but the way of the wicked leads them astray.

I have had many discussions with myself, and with others, regarding the discipline of having the right people around me.  In some situations, it is a tough decision and process of moving people on or moving yourself on from them.  I’ve paid the price of not having the right people around me.  As a business owner you can relate that to employees. If you are not a business owner you can even relate it to co-workers.

Business Owners – Choose Your Employees Carefully

Most of us have put ourselves in a position of depending on someone who was destructive (maybe not starting out) to our business. Sometimes we even think, “I do not have them in the right position” or other similar thoughts.  It’s amazing how we will justify (lack of discipline) not letting a person go. After all:

• I will have extra work I will have to take on
• There will be the extra work of training someone else
• I will have to take the chance of hiring someone else who’s going to just put us through the same thing. So we’ll just keep them and hope something changes.
• I need to give them a second, or third, or fourth chance. After all it’s the right thing to do. They need work, have kids and have bills to pay, and I am their life-source.

All the while, for that one person, other employees are suffering.  Not to mention the customers are becoming more uneasy with each issue or confrontation with them. And most of all, you are losing sleep and your life is getting noisier every day because of them.  It’s okay to recognize it is just not a good fit!

Personal Application – Family, Friends & You

Are there friends in your life who are creating a lot of noise in your life?  Are they dragging you down?

And what about yourself? Do you lack discipline that is making your life tougher, harder, noisier? Is it to the point that you are unhappy with your life and maybe you are pulling others down?

Self-Examination Time! 

Let us look at ‘that employee’ and ‘that family member or friend’ and ‘You’ too:

• That employee – You must look out for the best interests of your customers and employees.  You have to look out for your own well-being when it comes to your business.  Your livelihood and future outcomes will have great affect. It will affect your customers, your employees and the dreams you have for you and your family.  There is a right and a wrong way to allow someone to move on if they are not a good fit.  But don’t hang on to them to the detriment of your business and related relationships.

• Those family and friends – I’m not saying to not ever see those in which you’ve built relationship. And you can’t just disown family. But you can practice ‘social distancing’ so to speak if in fact they are infecting you.  I like the analogy of a crab in a bucket.  The crab will always reach up and pull itself out of the bucket.  All you have to do is put two crabs in a bucket and neither one will ever get out.  Why, because when one tries to get out, the other will pull it back down.  What about your relationships?

• YOU – self-discipline is no fun.  Getting up at 5:30 or 6 to get time in with God; Getting prayer time in somewhere in a busy (not productive) day; Finding time to get exercise in, even a walk; eating right when it is way easier to sit on the couch and snack on tasty ‘not so good for you’ food.  <<Apply your examples here>>
  • A good deal of the relationship dynamics we deal with, for good or bad, usually has to do with us! 

Do Not Just Settle

Many times it seems we settle for that which requires little effort, but also produces little results.  I’m thinking ‘strict’ training here again.  If your life isn’t where you want it to be it won’t just magically change. You have to do something about it!

Challenge for today – This is what we do, we practice self-discipline.  The righteous choose their friends carefully. So be it!

Carmen and I are watching a series right now where the hero is crazy fit and does these amazing exercises.  After doing what seemed like a simple 15 minute Tabata routine in our living room last night I told Carmen, “I’m never going to get where that super hero is, my body hurts so much just from that short routine.”  That was me whining and crying about discipline.  Don’t be like Scott, don’t be a whiner!  😊